RBS agrees payout to some investors over rights issue row

5th Dec 2016 07:10

(ShareCast News) - Royal Bank of Scotland said it had agreed payouts to some shareholders to settle allegations that it misled them ahead of a £12bn rescue rights issue in 2008 at the outbreak of the financial crisis.RBS said it had concluded "a full and final settlement with three out of the five shareholder groups representing 77% of the claims by value"."In total, RBS is willing to make available settlement sums of up to £800m assuming settlement of all claims, to be split among all five shareholder groups, subject to agreement and claim validation," RBS said in a statement."RBS will now seek to agree finalised terms with members of the remaining two groups whose claims are presently continuing. Any claims for which settlement is not achieved will, however, continue to be vigorously defended."Investors claim that they were misled into signing up to the £12bn rights issue months before the bank's near collapse in 2008, and allege the rights issue prospectus contained untrue or misleading statements about the bank's financial position.The trial for such claims is due to commence in March 2017.